Chris Pickles - Director
Adrian Lillie - Designer
Georgina King - Assistant Designer
Ian Bass - Gremio
John Brenner - Hortensio
Christian Edwards - Tranio
Henry Everett - Petruchio
Clare Fraenkel - Bianca
Nigel Lister - Lucentio
Rod Matthew - Sly
Kali Peacock - Kate
Summer madness Paula Clifford, Oxford Times, Friday 7th July Daily Info, Simon Tavener
Unlike many productions, this one retains Shakespeare’s introduction, which sets the Shrew as a play within a play, performed for the benefit of a drunken tinker, Christopher Sly, who is led to believe that he is Lord of the Manor whose household are laying on this entertainment for him. To his initial bewilderment, but increasing delight, Sly is drawn into the play himself, reading different parts as the players direct. It is rounded off by an epilogue taken from another play with a similar title, which restores Sly to his true estate and sends him on his way to his own irate wife.
This has the effect of putting Sly, wonderfully played by Rod Matthew, at the heart of the action. He enters into the spirit of the thing with gusto, skilfully avoiding silliness in Act V when his various characters overlap, as well as cutting a fine figure of a woman as the unnamed bride of Hortensio (a brilliant performance here from John Brenner).
All this playacting, however, does not detract from the antics of Kate (Kali Peacock) and Petruchio (Henry Everett). We first encounter Kate being completely beastly to her younger sister Bianca (Clare Fraenkel). Bianca is tied to a chair, her face daubed with lipstick and her teddy bear pulled to pieces – a detail to keep in mind when Petruchio’s treatment of his new wife seems to be more than a little harsh.
By contract, Bianca is pure charm, although she is not averse to blowing a raspberry at her horrid sister. This suggests hidden depths and makes her hasty marriage to Lucentio (Nigel Lister), and her transformation into a woman who knows her own mind less unexpected than it might have been.
The play is rich in double entendre which the actors enthusiastically exploit. While it’s not always easy to keep track of exactly who is pretending to be who, this really doesn’t matter, given the sheer momentum of the action. The cast is not averse to the occasional non-Shakespearean interjection which simply adds to the fun.
Set right in the centre of the college garden, this is a splendid piece of midsummer madness which is soon to be joined by The Importance of Being Earnest. Catch them while you can.
To be honest, I don’t think I can describe this as anything other than a perfect piece of summer Shakespeare. Filled with wit, energy and panache, it is a delight from start to finish.
This is the third year running that I have been to review a performance by Oxford Shakespeare Company and they really do go from strength to strength. Chris Pickles has shaped and styled the script to bring out every possible laugh (and more) - they should be extremely proud of their achievement.
It is almost a cliché to say that there were no weak links in the ensemble of 8 actors - but in this instance it is very true. All the actors perform many roles (in one case, Rod Matthew played 4 roles in one scene - constantly running round the stage talking to himself - a comic masterpiece) - and they do so with great aplomb.
The central pairing - the Shrew and her Tamer are excellently played by Kali Peacock and Henry Everett. Their spirit and sensuality is matched by a clear vision that they are well-matched as a couple both physically and emotionally. The sense of collusion in the final scene is an interesting reading of a difficult section and one that allows a modern audience to comprehend more of what is really going on.
Christian Edwards is hilarious as Tranio - well paired with Nigel Lister as Lucentio. Their gift for physical and verbal comedy is shared by Ian Bass and John Brenner. Claire Fraenkel is delightfully ditzy as Bianca - with a definite sting in her tail for the later scenes. I shall long remember the image of her tied to a chair as her favourite teddy bear is torn into pieces.
The retention of the play within a play framework originally intended by Shakespeare worked so well that it is hard to imagine why any company would dispense with this device, which gives such freedom to the actors as well as providing a ideal starting point for the action.
The costumes and set items are well matched to the performances - adding colour and vivacity. And, of course, the garden is as beautiful as ever.
I very much hope to see the companion production of The Importance of Being Earnest by the same actors. It promises to be an excellent summer for OSC - I cannot but urge you to go along and be entertained.
Many people, when asked about the play The Taming of the Shrew will tell you it is a play of the story of the “cursed shrew” Katherine and the “mad-brain rudesby” Petruchio who intends to marry
her. The complex sub-plots that surround these two characters may however be a little vague in
people’s minds. Then vale your stomackes, for it is no boote, Chris Pickles 2006
The story of Bianca’s wooers, for example. Hortensio pretends to be the musician Litio, Lucentio
pretends to be his own servant Tranio as well as Cambio a Latin teacher while (confusion upon
confusion) Lucentio’s servant Tranio pretends to be Lucentio. Add to that Lucentio’s father
Vincentio arriving in Padua to fi nd there is already someone in his son’s house pretending to be
Vincentio, and one can understand why Gremio, another suitor, and the girls’ father Baptista
look on in confusion.
The same people with a vague memory of these sub-plots will possibly have no memory at all of
the character in the play called Christopher Sly for the very good reason that many productions
totally cut all the scenes involving him. And yet they are the scenes that create the very
foundations of the whole play. The Sly scenes are the very bedrock of the Kate and Petruchio
story, not just a frivolous framing.
The Taming of the Shrew is a play within a play. Christopher Sly is tricked into believing he is not
a tinker but a fi ne, rich Lord with many servants and a beautiful (and dutiful) young wife. The
Kate and Petruchio story is a play performed for the entertainment of a tinker believing he is the
Lord of the Manor. The performance for Sly is the basis of the ‘acting’ and ‘pretence’ that is the
thematic core of Shakespeare’s play.
Today, watching this show, you the audience will see real people, professional actors, on stage,
pretending to be character’s in Shakespeare’s play. These real people are pretending to be actors
playing characters that, in the play within the play, pretend to be other characters for Christopher
Sly. And in the play within the play they pretend to be other people, or even each other. Layer
upon layer of pretence and reality.
But isn’t life about pretending? Not necessarily literally pretending to be another person, but
don’t we all get through life by partially hiding who we really are and what we really feel? So what
about Kate and Petruchio? Who are they pretending to be? Are they acting? Is their journey from
pretence to truth or vice-versa? Where does truth end and pretence begin?
And place your hands below your husbands foote:
In token of which dutie, if he please,
My hand is readie, may it do him ease.
